Saturday, September 24, 2016

Welcome to another Saturday and a brand new Christmas Inspiration challenge from The Challenge!

I took my inspiration from the snowman image and even added a little cardinal to my card.

I started by stamping my images and coloring them with Copics. I cut them out using my Brother Scan N Cut 2, or as I like to call it, the machine that saves my sanity! I cut a snowbank using a Stitched Hillside border and set all the pieces aside. I cut down a piece of watercolor paper to the size of an A2 card and then used my Distress inks to watercolor a sky. After it was dry, I heat embossed my snowflakes and a little heart in white. I adhered my panel to a white card base and then adhered my snowbank to the bottom after heat embossing my sentiment in silver. I added my little snowmen with some foam tape and then adhered my cardinal overlapping them. I finished it off with a few sparkling clear sequins around the sentiment to look like snowflakes.

I hope you enjoyed my card and are inspired to join us at The Challenge!

I'm also entering this card into the Paper Smooches September Challenge - Anything Goes.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Just let you guys know, I'm in the process of packing up our house and preparing for a 700 mile move. I've scheduled my design team posts ahead of time, so my blog will still be updating and functioning, but you'll see a slow down in the amount of posts because I won't be able to post my randomly made cards. We're looking at being completely moved in the middle of October, so my regular posting schedule should resume soon after that. Don't worry, I haven't disappeared, but I will be on a mini hiatus for the next month or so. I hope you'll stick with me until then!

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Happy Saturday, everyone! The Challenge is back with a brand new photo inspiration challenge for you to play with!

I've been loving pineapples all summer. I have shirts with them, washi tape, stamps, even a pair of underwear! (TMI?) Lol! I was super excited when I saw this photo inspiration challenge and couldn't wait to break out my pineapples again! I even burned a wonderful pineapple candle while I created!

I, of course, took my inspiration from the pineapple, but I also pulled a pink flower out of the photo. I kept the background simple by keeping it white, but added detail by using some stitching lines dies to add texture. Because of the texture, I had to add my sentiment without stamping it directly to the base. I didn't want to detract from the background, so I used vellum. I love vellum! I heat embossed my sentiment in gold and tucked it behind my images so the adhesive wouldn't show. After the card was completely assembled, I tied in the gold from the sentiment by adding a sprinkling of gold sequins.

I'm so sad and happy at the same time that summer is ending. I live in the desert, so I'm happy to see the 120 degree weather finally leaving, but I'm so sad that my fun summer stamps are going to be put away for a few months. At least that means I'll be able to play with my winter stamps that have been sitting on a shelf without love!

Friday, September 16, 2016

For this card, I decided to use across from the left top to the bottom right - Stencil, Blues and Greens, and Texture.

I started my card by cutting down some white cardstock to make an A2 top-folding card. I laid a stencil over the front of my card and used texture past and a palette knife to create the wonky chevron pattern you see behind my image. I love how this simple technique creates a great texture and makes a boring white background into one that pops!

Next, I stamped my dragon image and colored him with Copics from the Blue and Yellow Green families. I love how he turned out! So cute! I used my Brother Scan N Cut 2 to cut him out (I hate fussy cutting!). Because of the texture on the card base, simply stamping a sentiment was out, so I stamped my sentiment in Versamark on black cardstock and then heat embossed in white. I thought it would help it stand out on a card that was overwhelmingly light. I added my dragon and my sentiment with foam tape and then adding a few Peridot Mist sequins for some more fun green color.